Which one of the following foreign travellers elaborately discussed about diamonds and diamond mines of India?
Answer & explanation
Answer: (b) Jean-Baptiste Tavernier
Jean-Baptiste Tavernier, a French jeweller and gem merchant who made six journeys to India between 1631 and 1668, is the traveller known for describing India's diamond mines in detail. He wrote about them in his Six Voyages (1676).
- ✓ (b) Tavernier was a French jeweller who travelled to India at least six times (NCERT), and the Smithsonian calls him the first European to describe the diamond mines in India. A peer-reviewed Indian geoscience paper likewise cites his Travels in India (1676) for the size of the Golkonda stone later known as the Koh-i-Noor.
- ✗ (a) Francois Bernier was a French doctor, political philosopher and historian who stayed in the Mughal Empire from 1656 to 1668, serving Dara Shukoh and later Danishmand Khan; he is known for his account of Mughal society and politics, not diamonds.
Remember · Tavernier = French jeweller, six journeys to India, first European to describe India's diamond mines; Bernier = physician, Mughal court and society.
📘 Read it in NCERT: Class 12 Themes in Indian History, Part II, Ch 1 (practise this chapter) · Class 12 Themes in Indian History, Part II, Ch 1 (practise this chapter)
Sources
- NCERT Class 12 · Themes in Indian History, Part II, Chapter 1 “One of the most famous was the French jeweller Jean-Baptiste Tavernier, who travelled to India at least six times.”
- Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History: History of the Hope Diamond ↗ · reference work “He was the first European to describe the diamond mines in India.”
- Journal of Earth System Science (Indian Academy of Sciences, peer-reviewed): Primary sources of Koh-i-Noor and other Golkonda diamonds ↗ · reference work “The famous French traveller and merchant Jean Baptiste Tavernier mentions the Koh-i-Noor in his book ‘Travels in India (1676)’ as being approximately 787 carats in its rough or uncut form”
- NCERT Class 12 · Themes in Indian History, Part II, Chapter 1 “and was closely associated with the Mughal court, as a physician to Prince Dara Shukoh, the eldest son of Emperor Shah Jahan”
Question and answer: UPSC's official GS Paper I (2018, Series A) — paper ↗ · answer key ↗. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 1 Oct 2026 (how we verify). ·